For example, "Album X wins out in the end due to Artist X's sheer to persistence." Or, "...due to Artist X's sheer purity of vision." Or "...due to the album's sheer relentlessness."
This isn't necessarily an overused phrase, but I see it from time to time. I'm thinking now that praising an album/artist for their "sheer persistence" is kind of funny, though perhaps it is a reason why someone might like the music.
However, what is it that we're really trying to say when we write that? Does "sheer persistence" really signify something that we want to listen to?
― dleone (dleone), Thursday, 2 October 2003 11:06 (twenty-one years ago)
Is this a q. about persistence of process or persistence of music?
Because I'm not sure the two can be conflated -- e.g, the first album that springs to mind is Talk Talk's "Spirit of Eden": not overbearing or relentless music, but certainly the product of sheer persistence in pursuit of a vision.
What I infer when I read this phrase (or sthng similar) is that a perceived set of expectations has been willfully (but not arbitrarily) ignored. Which seems to me an admirable approach to creativity in general, regardless of Artist X's talent.
― Jeremy (Jeremy), Thursday, 2 October 2003 11:51 (twenty-one years ago)
I think it refers to persistence of process, or at least that's how I read it (however, I have seen it written, and suspected the writer was really talking about the sound of the music). I guess I'm undecided about this kind of phrase because to me, persistence is not an inherently good or bad thing, and yet I only ever see this written as a positive.
― dleone (dleone), Thursday, 2 October 2003 12:00 (twenty-one years ago)
re: persistence only used as praise
the negative mode would be "in a rut" yes?
cf "beautiful" is not inherently good or bad in music, but beautiful is only used as praise in my experience: for criticism of pointlessly melodic music one often has trouble making oneself clear to a certain segment of one's readership, but others know instantly what you mean by such phrases as "overly pretty" or "pleasant enough".
re: relentless yet quiet, as in talk talk
it often seems to me that there is a sort of built-in amplitude normalizer in the head of the more experienced listener. that is, if one listens intently to tons of records, after a while, the quiet stuff starts to leap out at you more than it does to the casual listeners; even on first listen, i think. it's like an experience driver who hugs the curves better. and so stuff like talk talk, ambient eno, autechre, etc - often does in fact sort of become relentless, overbearing, in a sense... and in a good way [at times] - the record's playing pretty quietly, sort of occupies a small corner of the room i'm sitting in. but the lack of features to its shape makes it distinctively immanent, ponderous.
double meaning to that "ponderous" i suppose. as one tends, when entering a fog, to search for clues how to behave by ransacking one's memories of dreams.
― mig, Thursday, 2 October 2003 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)